Lawyer in Orlando-area teacher sex case: Don't prejudge

An attorney representing St. Cloud teacher Sarah Elizabeth Joel, arrested Saturday on sex charges involving a a former student, said Joel shouldn't be prejudged before "all the facts come out."

Joel, 31, was arrested at school-district headquarters in Kissimmee and faces three counts of lewd and lascivious battery, a second-degree felony.

She was granted $22,500 bail Saturday during a first appearance hearing.

The report said Joel admitted to having sex with the teen twice during Christmas break.

But the teenager, now 16, told investigators they had sex once before in September when he was 15.

Rajan Joshi, Joel's attorney, said her confession to law enforcement should be weighed with caution.

"It doesn't match up with the young man's statement and she initially denied the allegations," Joshi said. "She's still presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Joel worked as a social worker after she graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1998, Joshi said.

"She's dedicated her life to helping underprivileged children. She also helps children with learning disabilities and high-risk children from broken homes."

Osceola County deputy sheriffs began investigating the Narcoossee Community School teacher Friday morning after a Harmony High School teacher told them one of her students might have been having sex with his former teacher, according to a sheriff's affidavit.

Joel is listed on the school's Web site as a special-education teacher.

She is married and has children. Joshi wouldn't say how many children Joel has or how old they are.

During a tape-recorded interview, the student told an investigator that he and Joel stayed in touch after last school year and he became a friend of her family, the report states.

When he called Joel to talk about his problems, Joel would pick him up and take him to her home, he said.

"One thing led to another," the teen told investigators. He said the encounters took place at Joel's St. Cloud home.

Dana Schafer, Osceola school district spokeswoman, said Joel was a special-education teacher who began working for the district, and for Narcoossee Community School, in October 2006.

Joel has been reassigned with pay to the district's administrative offices pending the investigation's outcome, Schafer said.